QueenofKrakatoa

I like to dedicate each day to a specific type of liquor. Vodka one day, then rum, then gin followed by tequila day. Kinda like a dining room rotation.

Save a day for scotch and bourbon!

Scooby Snack! It's vodka, melon liqueur, coconut rum, half and half, and ice. So good!

I was able to evolve my Magikarp because I actually caught a whole bunch in Alaska. 😂

The world's first ball pit at sea, with slides that go into it.

I will be watching intently, armed with a good scotch.

I'm not getting my way so I'm gonna throw a tantrum and threaten to never cruise with rccl ever again for at least two weeks

Yes, it's certainly not required and as someone stated earlier, it's a very subjective issue. I personally choose to tip more because I have always had excellent service and I know the staff work their a**es off to give that excellent service. I like to be generous.

I think you tipped just fine. I always pay the automated grats, plus I tip in cash at the end of the cruise (usually $100 to the cabin attendant). In Chops I would've done $20, but $25 is acceptable too.

Use a reputable travel agency that deals with groups often, because group policies are very convoluted and the kind of financial stuff involved gets complex and a lot can go wrong. We booked a group a few years ago and we had a great travel agent.

I'm a fly in cruiser. I prefer Port Canaveral, then Fort Lauderdale, then Tampa, then Miami. Can't stand Miami, too much traffic and it's just not designed well.

This was retweeted by Roysl Caribbean.

 

Royal Caribbean retweeted

Justin Blattner

Jul 28

Justin Blattner ‏@jblattner

Catchin them all on the #empressoftheseas

Embedded image

Haha nice.

Juneau definitely has a fairly active Pokemon community, not as big as Anchorage. Not sure about the other ports as I don't know anybody living out that way.

 

In Anchorage downtown is a major hotspot.

Awesome!

:D

 

Good thought. I wonder how many pokemon are actually planet out in the middle of the ocean though. You'd be able to hatch a shed load of eggs wandering round the ship constantly though!

Right? Probably lots of Magikarps...

Haven't been on a ship since the game released but my understanding was it requires an actual cell tower signal, wifi and satellite signals wouldn't allow the GPS to work properly. They also tend to only work in more crowded/populated locations, at least here in Alaska. People out in the bush pretty much never get any Pokemon to spawn without incense, while in the city they are constantly appearing. The ship may be too isolated for anything to pop up.

That's kind of what I figured. Oh well, my kids can live without catching Pokemon for a week on our upcoming cruise, but we'll be in Alaska, so maybe in the ports.

Has anyone tried playing Pokemon Go on the ships? We play it with our kids and wondered if any of you other families have been able to do it.

You have to deal with the groups dept and they ARE open today...but close earlier than normal so call now.

There's two different groups departments. There's groups for direct bookings and groups for travel agents. The latter is open today, but they won't be able to help him if he booked direct. He does need to call them though and ask to speak to groups resolutions as they are the resolutions for both departments.

Don't call C&A. They're not trained in groups. You need to call and ask specifically for groups resolutions. They are open on the weekend.

What a way to live. :) Does he ever post on cc?

I sort of doubt it.

So true! Carnival has call centers in Miami and Colorado Springs. When I call and get a person in Miami I usually hang up and call back, hoping for someone in Colorado. Most of those I have had to speak to in Miami had such strong Caribbean accents that I couldn't understand a word they said. Those in Colorado Springs have been able to solve even the most complicated problems.

It's the same with Royal. The people in the Miami call center are hard to understand, slow, and often rude. That's why I call C&A for most everything, since they are only in Oregon and I don't have to hang up and call back. Even if it's not necessarily a C&A issue I still call, because they can book shows/shore excursions/dining, and they can troubleshoot basic things, and if anything goes wrong, they have a resolutions department that can fix it.

Thank you- I wouldn't have thought about C&A. I called and the person I spoke with was extremely helpful and is working to resolve my problem!

You're welcome! C&A is located in the Oregon office only, and they're the most helpful agents. I've never had a problem with them and when I've had a wrench thrown in my plans they always fix it.

I'm looking for something higher level than that. Not interested in talking to a call center employee who can't do anything to solve my problem.

There isn't a direct number. You'll have to call the main line and ask to speak to Resolutions. Give the first agent your reservation number and they'll get you over.

I also recommend that if you're a Crown and Anchor member that you call them and ask to speak to their Resolutions team; they are especially helpful.

Lastly, I'm sure your concern is legitimately frustrating, but please don't take out your anger on the call center employee. They're just trying to do their job.

Just my two cents about call centers, having both been a call center agent and supported the call center in other departments I can tell you that even in the US it's difficult to have great customer service.

 

1. Call center employees are the lowest paid people in the whole company. This leads to A LOT of turnover either from people moving to other departments, or leaving the company all together. There is constant onboarding of people, which means your odds of getting a "green" agent is high.

 

2. The amount of knowledge call center agents are expected to know is insane. The training at my former company was four weeks, and that was one week of learning the programs, one week of learning as much as possible about the products and company, one week of listening to calls, and one week of taking calls with a trainer. So expecting the agents to know how to do EVERYTHING in four weeks is pretty daunting. Most agents learn as they go or from their peers, but that takes time, and from my first point you can see that doesn't happen a lot.

 

3. The pressure on call center agents is often too much. They are usually short-staffed so there can be long wait times and very little time between calls. This makes them flustered and upset quite often. They also sometimes have metrics that they need to hit, so they end up sounding robotic and short with people. This leads to people yelling at them and then they have to escalate the call which puts pressure on the other departments.

 

It's a really hard and thankless job, and I always try to keep that in mind when I'm on the phone with anyone. I totally understand the frustration though, and until companies decide that call center employees are a crucial part of their business it will continue. Unfortunately, I think we will continue to see a decline because the market is going more online and the younger generation prefers not to have to talk to anyone.

This. So much this. ❤️❤️❤️

Interesting, there was another post earlier today about a military discount saving over $2K. Nice to see these discounts.:)

Right? This is seriously the biggest discount we've ever seen and we've been cruising since 2006.

Just as an FYI, my husband and I called for pricing for the Radiance sailing to Alaska the first two weeks as a last minute cruise and under his EMT discount we got an E1 balcony for $2100 or so. Normal pricing was almost $2k more. We've never seen that good of a deal before and I wanted to share!

"i'm going to endlessly complain about the prices and how the sales aren't really sales, but still book anyway." -everyone

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